Until 2003, Vermont was the only permitless carry state. Since the state’s constitution was ratified in 1791, Vermont has never required a permit or license to carry a handgun, openly or concealed. In fact, what we call constitutional carry was called “Vermont carry” for years. This didn’t mean people carrying handguns, especially open-carry, weren’t subject to challenges by police; sometimes the challenges were confrontational, even though both the officer and the carrier were familiar with the law.
In fairness, it must be said some of the openly armed individuals were deliberately baiting the officers, so they deserved what they got.
Despite a lack of those “life-saving” gun control laws, Vermont has historically had among the lowest violent crime and homicide rates of any state in the union. Looking at the period from 2001 to 2018, the weighted average firearm homicide rate in Vermont was 0.76 per 100,000 population. By comparison, the rate in the District of Columbia, which has a similar number of residents, was 17.83 per 100,000.
Unfortunately, Vermont’s legislature began passing the usual gun control laws even though there was clearly no need for them. This was most likely influenced by an influx of tax refugees from New York state.
From 2018 to 2019, Vermont’s firearm homicide rate jumped 167%. By 2023, the rate had rocketed up 350%, going from 0.48 per 100,000 to 2.16 per 100,000.
Was the jump due to the new gun laws? No: Drugs, especially fentanyl, and gang activity were the source of a number of the additional murders but the bevy of new laws did nothing to prevent them; they never have.
There is a fundamental disconnect between gun control and reality. Gun control addicts focus on a single type of violence, and ignore the broader spectrum of it. Even when it comes to homicides and suicides, they ignore the deaths not committed with a gun, even though those accounted for 37% of all homicides and suicides in 2023. Since all homicides and suicides are driven by the same factors, regardless of the method or implement used, addressing only a single mechanism is myopic to the point of blindness.
The gun control approach to the problem of “gun violence” seems to be targeting those unlikely to commit violent acts: Law-abiding firearm owners. The theory seems to be if owning a firearm can be banned or so heavily restricted and expensive, the problem would be resolved. There are so many holes in this belief, you could use it to drain spaghetti.
As the North Carolina legislature tries to get constitutional carry across the finish line, it’s important for citizens of the Tarheel State to let their representatives know all the claims from the gun control fans and certain law enforcement groups have been made many times before and they have never come to pass.
Sources: centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Vermont Crime Information Center.
